1 man in child exploitation network from Minnesota

March 19, 2014

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - Authorities say one of 14 men charged with operating an online child exploitation network was arrested in Minnesota.

Details of the operation were announced Tuesday. The investigation led by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Postal Inspection Service saved 250 victims across 39 states and five other countries.

Minnesota ICE spokesman Shawn Neudauer says 12 victims are from Minnesota. They include girls and boys, with an average age ranging from 13 to 16. They are from across Minnesota and all walks of life.

Neudauer says there were 12 victims in North Dakota, two in South Dakota, six in Iowa and eight in Wisconsin.

Authorities say the defendants used an underground network, posed online as girls and coerced the victims into sharing sexually explicit images of themselves.